Fri 11 Apr 2008
A local news investigation has found that the city of Dallas, Texas depends upon short yellow timing to maximize red light camera profit. Of the ten cameras that issue the greatest number of tickets in the city, seven are located at intersections where the yellow duration is shorter than the bare minimum recommended by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), KDFW-TV found.
Source
(The story is from last November.)
April 11th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Was the yellow light time changed after the cameras were put in or was it the same as it was before the cameras? Intention is important.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:38 am
No. It’s not.
Safety is important.
Yellow lights serve to slow traffic and prevent accidents. If the yellow is shorter than the recommended time, then that light adds to the danger of accidents. The fact that those lights are profit centers is unimportant relative to the safety issue. Before the camera, they would have just posted a cop there.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
“depends upon short yellow timing to maximize red light camera profit” is the intention issue. If the short yellow light existed before the cameras were installed, the safety issue hasn’t changed. If they were made deliberately shorter that would add to the danger of accidents.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
The issue of intention is not determined simply by whether or not the short yellows existed prior to the cameras or were changed:
“Confidential documents obtained in a 2001 court trial proved that the city of San Diego, California and its red light camera vendor, now ACS, only installed red light cameras at intersections with high volumes and “Amber (yellow) phase less than 4 seconds.”
Dallas likewise installed the cameras at locations with existing short yellow times.” [Emphasis added.]
The California case does not implicate Dallas in this instance, but I think the article is a call for further investigation.
“The Texas Transportation Institute study also found that shorter yellows generate a 110 percent jump in the number of tickets, but at the cost of safety. Increasing the yellow one second above the recommended minimum cut crashes by 40 percent.”
Because ultimately, I believe public safety IS the primary issue. Knowing that you have short yellow lights and installing cameras instead of just adjusting the lights to TXDOT recommended times certainly gives the impression of dubious intent.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Thanks for the research. You are correct. It didn’t occur to me the intention happened before the cameras were installed.